bewildered wanderer

It seems to me that Thais are pretty clear with their policies on foreigners... In other words, they don't give a shit what we think... Either accept it or fook off. gotta take the good with the bad.

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momma

crew

^ I really don't see where that plays into a personal battle between two approaches. It's a personal decision based upon what each person deems appropriate--not others.

I'm not going to start wearing yellow on Monday's just because the Thais want me to get with the program. I'll choose based upon a conclusion I make for myself.

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"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." --The Dude.

MisterStretch

I'm with you on this one, Crew.

Yes, I'm driving and someone does something completely idiotic and unsafe. If I feel it endangers me and my family, then I'm angry as shit. I give a bit of horn and maybe even a one-finger salute. My wife admonishes me for this as she said people can be shot for it.

She also has become fond of saying, "I can hear you." When I'm bitching to another driver. First she said, "Do you think he can hear you?" "No," I say. "But it makes me feel better."

Now, she doesn't bother with the preamble. She just says, "I can hear you."

There are some things that are just part of their culture and though frustrating to us, aren't going to be changed by us bitching about them or by Thais themselves...because it's an inherent part of the way they live.

I'm getting better at not twisting myself in knots about this, but...


Mai pen rai will never completely take hold in me.

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I'm waiting for my real life to begin...Colin Hay

reinvented

im on a self imposed anger management program which works by pretty much ignoring the fuckers
thankfully apart from my daily commute i deal with a minimum of retards
and no i dont miss admins

shay
not sure i agree with yer policy, that attitude comes mainly from lower class thais who are pretty much ignored themselves by their superiors and that all they know
so you're right in the majority, but as we all know nobody gives a fuck about the majority in this coun try or what they think.

C
i agree 100%, its defoinitley down to me on the day
but stupid is as stupid does forrest

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McNulty: Man, lay off the Greeks. They invented civilisation.
Bunk: Yeah? Ass-fucking, too.


I'm not an alcoholic, alcoholics go to meetings

I'M A DRUNK!!

jonny danger

Yes, to be too accepting can kill you. Thais are dangerous, their culture can kill you.

This is how I learned it: Cultural features exist within a culture because they indeed work for the individuals. When they don't work any more they gradually fade away.

What compounds that idea is 1) If a failing feature doesn't move his ass quick enough somebody will suffer. 2) If the ruling party insists on the failing feature staying around too long there will be shit all over the fan .. or a revolution. 3) If the culture's subjects can't even recognize a steady downward spiral in their quality of life Darwin will evict them. 4) Very small, seemingly insignificant social events, are often more historically profound than what they appear (focus on the tree). 5) (my personal fav) if a society is lead to believe mai pen rai and khit mak mai dee are viable, reliable and stedfast as core beliefs ...

DaveyG

Just shout and curse at them like I do, it's the only way these people learn. As an example the couple next to me were talking all the way through the film 'Death race' (shit film by the way)the other day, people in the audience kept hushing them but they didn't take any notice, I wasn't going to stand for this ignorant attutide as it was ruining my viewing experience and I didn't pay 140 baht to listen to them, suffice to say I stood up and shouted at them, they were quiet after that so it worked.

fencesitter

^ That's one way of doing it. Probably not the best way, but if it worked, then what the hell.

DaveyG

I don't like getting that way of course, but you know if someone is ruining my entertainment or trying to run me over with their car I kind of get a bit agitated.

Dan

Not really related to the OP but as organising principles, these (the former especially) are actually rather good as their wide-spread acceptance will almost certainly lead to a stable, cohesive society. Certainly they're going to be infinitely preferable to the cultural imperatives of Anglo-Saxon Capitalism with its 'dog eat dog' and 'devil take the hindmost' values. These are surely a recipe for the unravelling of a society.

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"When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes."

jonny danger

Yes, all those killing and riots we see on Thai TV were filmed two days age in a studio and are actually androids.

Dan

^ Perhaps caused by a lack of 'mai pen lai'-ing, rather than a surfeit.

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"When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes."

WilliamBlake

Agreed Dan. The 'mai bpen rai' attitude makes this one of the most liveable societies on the planet, that's why we're here. My last memory of the West, and perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back, was walking across a pedestrian crossing and having some idiot speed up and point his car directly at me while his tattooed girlfriend yelled at me "Use the crossing!"

I was on a crossing.

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jonny danger

Mai pen rai is found all over the world. It's a form of not giving a shit. In Latin America it's ni modo .. can't win, can't lose. So you go to the doctor, he puts you under and removes your heart instead of your lungs. Oh well, that's how things go sometimes.

Sanuk Canuk

I don't mind the former attitude too much but the second one always pisses me off. I think most of thai culture is specifically aimed at keeping the poor in their place. The genious is that they actually have the poor believing the BS too. Lots of poor people think it is wrong for them to strive for a better life other than the tiniest incrimental improvement.

Granted many cultures have reactionary elements but they have it down to a science here.

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